


Rumor

by ReturnToZero



Series: 11:11 [2]
Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: M/M, Mostly fluff?, Rather, Rumor, Shuichi being dumb, also it's more of an insinuation, and Ouma being a moron, drabble thing, they are definitely not together at this point LOL
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-10-18 21:54:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20646269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReturnToZero/pseuds/ReturnToZero
Summary: /ˈro͞omər/nouna currently circulating story or report of uncertain or doubtful truth."Did youwantit to be true?"





	Rumor

His day begins with something a little unexpected. 

A rumor, to be precise. Usually, Shuichi is not one for gossip, but it’s hard to stay completely unaware, especially when it revolves around the one and only Ouma Kokichi. His notorious nature makes him a prime target for all kinds of rumors and slander, and with Kokichi’s wishy-washy ways, even the detective found it hard to discern truth from lie. But somehow this new rumor is intriguing in a whole new way.

_ Ouma Kokichi has a crush on someone. Specifically, a boy. _

Once he overhears it, he catalogues it, just like he does with all the leads he gets on the Ultimate Supreme Leader. He unfortunately has to stoop to this level of information gathering, since Ouma refuses to give him anything substantial. But at least these things are easy for him to determine, and they don’t seem to equate to much to begin with.

So he doesn’t expect it to weigh so heavily onto his mind. Yet he finds when his mind wanders, it happens to cling to that morsel of gossip.  _ Ouma Kokichi has a crush. On a boy.  _ He never judged any of his classmates on any of their preferences, no matter how strange, but he usually never thinks of them as anything besides ordinary. Aside from their talents, at least. So thinking about Ouma with another boy doesn’t disgust him, but it does make him wonder. 

During a lull in class he can’t help but try to find a pairing. If the pairing didn’t seem plausible, then how could the rumor have merit? And so he scopes the class, and although Kokichi is a mischievous prankster, he tends to have many positive relationships. 

Yet he comes to an impasse once again, Kokichi probably wouldn’t be so obvious about his feelings. 

Perhaps he should look for someone that Kokichi teases the most? Some say that sometimes teasing is a way of showing affection…

Somehow, that doesn’t seem right either. Ouma was very open about affection if his daily hugs are any indication. Besides, he might anticipate that someone would figure out that he would do the opposite of his true feelings, therefore he should do the opposite of that to make sure he double fools them! So, really he can argue back and forth in an endless loop, without an answer in sight. He’s back to square one, except this time with a headache.

He hits his head on the desk, realizing that this was probably the most trivial thing to get confused about. The homeroom teacher scolds him for disrupting the class and his embarrassment chases away any lingering thoughts about rumors.

At least, until the gossip manifests into something even more preposterous.    
  
He nearly spits out his drink when it reaches his ears— 

“Hwwuh?”    
  
Kaito laughs, “I know, right? It’s the craziest thing I’ve heard!” The luminary clears his throat a bit, “Ah, no offense to you of course.”

Shuichi balks at the late correction, but he still is reeling from the news, “No, I completely understand Kaito.”    
  
He can’t help but stare down at his lunch, not really looking at anything as he gets lost in his own mind.  _ Ouma Kokichi has a crush. On a boy. A boy in his class. They happen to be a detective. _

Really, he doesn’t know what to make of it. It’s absolutely insane, Kokichi liking him? That was silly. A total lie! Yet somehow it seems to ring over and over in his head, refusing to leave him alone. To hear something so _ outlandish _ , so  _ absolutely fallacious _ , it almost makes him want to laugh. Then again, this could be just a rumor gone wild, twisted through the passing to the point where it has completely changed in meaning. Simply someone trying to stir the pot and make some waves, which in all honesty, sounds like the kind of thing Ouma would do.

And so, he tries to corner the enigma for an investigation. For an Ultimate Supreme Leader, Ouma sure did have a lot of free time, it takes no effort on Shuichi’s part in being able to get him alone— 

“Ah, Mister Detective! Nice to see you, nice to see you.” He shakes his hand, as if it’s a formal exchange, “I swear I haven’t done anything illegal since the last time we spoke!”

Shuichi shrugs off the weird behavior, instead hoping to get to the bottom of this madness. “Kokichi… is it true?”

Ouma blinks his expression dropping, “What’s true?”He states blandly, as if completely tired of this sort of talk.

Shuichi chokes, was Kokichi really going to make him say it? Perhaps he is as evil as he claims, “You know… the rumor?”

Again, another bored expression, “Oh yeah, the rumor.” Kokichi sticks his tongue out at him, “I  _ totally  _ know which one you’re  _ specifically  _ talking about.”    
  
All sarcastic and with no playfulness, it makes Shuichi feel like he’s shoving his foot into his mouth. Goodness, it was hard enough to confront him about it, why was he the only one pushing?   
  
“The rumor about— “   
  
“Oh, yeah! I am allergic to kindness.” Ouma cuts him off with a bright smile, and Shuichi knows now he’s just toying with him. “Aaaaand I did sell my soul to satan for unlimited power.”

“What?”   
  
Kokichi suddenly pouts, crossing his arms cutely and Shuichi hates that he thought the word ‘cute’ to describe it, “But don’t listen to any of that nonsense about me eating babies! Babies are soooooo gross! I only eat yummy things like panta and gyoza.”

Shuichi is being barraged with useless information, well aware of Ouma’s usual run-around. Still, he is determined, he’s come too far to just let it go— 

“I MEANT THE ONE ABOUT YOUR CRUSH.”

Shuichi covers his mouth, wanting to die for suddenly yelling. A couple of students don’t have the ability to hide their eavesdropping, as all eyes are on them. It feels like he’s in a boiling pot, melting under all their gazes and attention. He is almost ready to disappear when Kokichi grabs his hand, with a bright expression— 

“Hey, there’s too many snoopers here, so we should go somewhere more private, if ya know what I mean!” Kokichi punctuates it with a wink and they go off, Shuichi uselessly being dragged along by the Supreme Leader. Whispers come from all around, but thankfully he doesn’t have to hear much as Ouma takes them to a remote location.   
  


It’s actually quite beautiful. It’s situated by the greenhouse on campus, and the scenery is a full summer bloom of flowers. In short, it’s very... _ romantic _ . Shuichi shakes his head, well aware that he is simply making things up. Curse his brain for continuing to see things that aren’t there.

“So, now that I’ve shown you a super-secret place, swear your loyalty to me!”

“No.”    
  
“Awww man, foiled again!” he wags his finger menacingly at the detective, “ I’ll get you next time Saihara!”   
  
Shuichi laughs at the meaningless little threat, well aware that Ouma was simply chattering away to take over the conversation. He still has not the courage to look at him, so he looks at the flowers nearby. While many of them are open, there are still many that haven’t bloomed. They stay as buds, closed and protected from the world.    
  
He swallows thickly, “Ouma, about before…”   
  
“Wow, here I thought you hated gossip. But here you are, indulging in something you dislike so much.” Ouma smiles once more, bouncing forward and back on his feet effortlessly. Ouma was usually so calculated with his movements, so was this also an intentional move? Still, it’s not his usual hugs or poses, so it puts Shuichi on edge.

“I’m just curious, that’s all.” He frowns, “You rarely ever talk about yourself, even among those you consider your friends.”   
  
Ouma clasps his hands in front of his chest, with an innocent expression, “But I do! I tell my friends everything— “   
  
“A lie.” Shuichi quietly responds, only to earn a whinnying laugh from the evil leader.

“Man, nothing gets past you detective!” And with that Ouma’s expression suddenly drops to a blank one, “So, what do you think?”   
  
The ball is in his court and he’s fucking panicking. He doesn’t want to assume, but at the same time, he has no idea what the answer is. Shuichi might as well be guessing!

“I…” he starts, unable to find anything else to say.    
  
They share a moment of silence, and Shuichi wonders why he has decided to pursue this lead. In the grand scheme of things, it was pretty worthless, but the answer soon becomes clear—  _ What kind of person would Kokichi care about? Was there anyone who could even have a chance to get the truth out of him?  _ It made logical sense, that Kokichi would probably let the truth slip to someone he cared. But even then, that wasn’t guaranteed. He might only give them one single truth, and the rest lies.    
  
“I don’t know how you feel, but… I want to.” He offers a smile, “I may not like gossip, but I do want to know how my friends are doing. And that includes how they feel about everyone.”

Shuichi puts on a brave face but is still met with little to nothing. Just those big lilac eyes staring at him. He figures he has to ask outright. 

“Is it true that you have a crush on someone?”    
  
A gust of wind blows past them, rustling the flowers softly. His heart is pounding and he has no idea why. But all he can do is wait for a response.

And Ouma fucking deflects with the best line of, "Nah. They are  _ rumors _ Shuichi! Weak little lies that someone of  _ my  _ caliber would never stoop to."

And Shuichi is surprised to find himself a bit hurt by the answer? Of course he should have not expected anything revolving around Ouma to be an immediate truth, but he wonders if the deflection was also meant as an insult. There was no way that Ouma wasn’t aware of how the rumor has spiralled, so to answer so curtly feels like he’s being attacked indirectly. Still, the meek teen recovers well enough— 

"Oh. Ok." After a moment he laughs a bit awkwardly, "Right! Rumors are pretty silly, huh?"

A thick silence settles over them, to the point where the detective feels as if something is off. His mind races with absurd thoughts, all jumbled and twisted and leading seemingly nowhere. The moment Ouma speaks up it shatters his concentration— 

"Did you  ** _want _ ** it to be true?" Ouma asks with a blank face, staring at him with such intent that Shuichi is wondering if he's the one being interrogated now. 

He blinks, confused.  _ Want it to be true? What did that have to do with _ — 

A sudden rush of embarrassment fills him to the brim,  _ Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no _ . _ Kokichi probably thinks that  _ ** _he _ ** _ was investigating for selfish reasons! _ The detective realizes that the final version of the rumor was also absolutely incriminating, despite him being an innocent bystander. He desperately sputters, not wanting to give Ouma the wrong idea, "Ah, no- you see, I just wanted to make sure we were ok and I wasn't ignoring anything important..."

Ouma snickers suddenly, with a giddy smile on his face, "Awwww! My beloved detective knows that  _ I'm _ the most important person in his life! Yaaay!"

Shuichi only continues to flubber, loudly denying the insinuation to which Ouma casually brushes off with another  _ But it’s a lie! _ comment. The detective in training frowns, just as confuzzled as ever with the Supreme Leader. But at least he knows that he hasn’t made himself misunderstood, it was just his curiosity!

Ouma continues, "I hate rumors! Most of the times they end up being pathetically delivered lies, but sometimes they have an annoying knack for being true!"

He’s glad for the shift in the conversation. His heart was still recovering from his earlier mistake, and he gladly veers away from any thoughts of romance. Shuichi does his best to act nonchalant and so he shrugs, "Well, sometimes things spill. Or they're more like secrets that got leaked." 

Kokichi stands up and turns away from Shuichi, grabbing his things, "Well, I guess rumors could also be maybes. Not true or false. A possibility, rather."

Shuichi frowns, “A possibility?”    
  
Somehow it seems like Ouma is dangling something in front of him, but he can’t tell what. Usually, he would be trying to entice him with promises of being lavished with rewards and gifts if he joined his super secret evil organization. This felt different though, like he was being offered something else.

Ouma smirks, all wide and Shuichi can’t help but wait for an answer, his curiosity piqued by such a vague answer. The silence drags on between them, and he can’t help but wait and wait and wait, still awaiting something,  _ anything. _ Yet Ouma simply stands there, smug. His smile seems to grow with every passing second as if the prankster is more than happy to throw away his time. Again, dangling something that Shuichi can’t possibly figure out yet, like a mystery box just waiting to be opened. 

“Maybe it’s not true right now, but what if it was in the future? What would you do with that?”

  
It sounds like a riddle. Shuichi cocks his head, confused, “If you like-liked someone from class?”   
  
A silent nod makes Kokichi’s hair bounce, and Shuichi follows the movement with his eyes, “Well… that would be good? I don’t know.”   
  
A disappointed huff comes from the smaller male, and he clicks his tongue, “Wow, that’s such a boring answer. And now I’m tired of all this gossip!”   
  
And with that Kokichi claims that the game is over, and quickly dismisses himself. The detective sighs, it seems like he has lost the game. Furthermore, he’s certainly been given a chase today with all these shenanigans. Still, he feels like he could learn something from the interaction, he just needs to pick apart some of the truths from the lies. 

**Author's Note:**

> Kokichi bites his tongue as he tries to steady his fluttering heart. Sure, Shuichi doesn’t seem to realize how his ploy has worked, but he has succeeded in gaining his attention. To have him hanging onto his every word and be so determined to find him, only made his heart twist in excitement. 
> 
> He was going to steal away the detective’s heart, right out from under his nose! Just having a taste of Shuichi’s infatuation and full attention was motivating him to try harder. 
> 
> _And maybe by the end, Shuichi will want his heart too._  



End file.
